Featured in American Painting Video Magazine

Last month American Painting Video Magazine visited me in my San Francisco studio and interviewed me for their Summer issue, just released yesterday! You can hear an interview with me in my studio and also in-process footage of my newest painting, Undersea.

Download Volume 2, Summer issue here!

Undersea
15.75 x 20 inches, oil on panel 

About the painting:

Walking through San Francisco’s historic North Beach neighborhood, I stopped to look at a shop window full of collectibles and curiosities, and caught sight of a large, barnacle-encrusted bottle. I went in and spoke to the shop owner, who said he he had dredged up the bottle from the bottom of the San Francisco Bay while diving.

We struck a deal, I walked home with my treasure, and the next day the barnacle bottle was perched on my still life shelf, quietly demanding to be painted.

Over the next few days an arrangement evolved which promised to consume my studio time for weeks: A collection of salvaged treasures seemingly dredged up from the bottom of the sea. 

In this painting I have grouped objects with a variety of edges and textures: The waxed paper nearly disappears as it melts into the shadows of the background, while the spiny contours of the crab claw strike a dramatic silhouette. The soft cool highlights of the glass bottle must compete with the warm, sharp whites of the barnacle shells.

To capture this variety requires the most subtle decisions about color, value, and edge control. It takes many layers of thin oil paint to create the final result, as many as seven to ten layers in the most complicated areas.

Drawing Lecture Video

This is a recent clip of me teaching a drawing class in my studio.

See a higher quality version of the movie here

Webcast Recap

Yesterday I did my first Webcast studio tour and demo, this is me standing in front of the camera, ready for my close-up!

UPDATE: Watch the Webcast again!

The webcast was recorded, so you can still click here to register and watch the whole thing, including a drawing demo, a color-mixing demo, and lots of great questions and answers.

The webcast went great and I really enjoyed myself. We had visitors from around the world, including as far away as Finland and Australia. The audience asked really good questions and kept me talking. I felt like I just skimmed over so many great topics, so I'm hoping to do a whole day-long workshop webcast in the future.
 

 

Here is my handsome camera guy, my husband Nowell, who turned a corner of my studio into a professional broadcasting suite for the day, complete with mixing board and a backup boom mic mounted on the camera, just in case my fancy rented wireless lapel mic didn't work (it worked great, though!).

A closer look at the sound and video setup. We had a brief moment of freeze-screen, but other than that we sailed through without any major technical hiccups. Phew!

My studio looked so spiffy I had to take some photos.

Above is my little still life painting corner where I spend most my time.

Webcast viewers got a look at my most recent painting which will be shipped to Arcadia Gallery in New York for the Sept 23 Small Works show.

We talked about what paints, panels, and brushes I use, and I did a little demo showing how I mix up cool and warm strings of neutral colors on my palette.

For more info you can click here to see all my blog posts about Materials

My still life shelf is at the left, my model stand is in the middle. To the right I have screens arranged as a changing room for my models.

Lady Victoire is looking happy.

The studio doors and a couple recent paintings on easels.

Thanks everyone who was able to register and attend, it was a huge success and I look forward to doing it again!

 

UPDATE: Watch the Webcast again!

The webcast was recorded, so you can still click here to register and watch the whole thing, including a drawing demo, a color-mixing demo, and lots of great questions and answers.

Winged Victory Drawing Demo

See the larger version here

I made this 8 minute movie of my 10-hour drawing of my cast statue "Victoire de Samothrace" to demonstrate the optical block-in method.

1. The line drawing is all straight lines.
2. The shadow side is first filled in as all one even tone.

These two methods are difficult to adhere too, but if you can do it they address the main difficulties in drawing: capturing accurate proportion, and understanding light and shadow.

Materials:

• Strathmore 400 drawing paper (not ideal for charcoal)
• vine charcoal, hard medium, and some soft (sharpened very sharp with sandpaper)
• kneaded eraser
• white "magic rub" eraser
• paper blending stump
• rough, cheap paper towel for blending

Winged Victory

charcoal on paper

18 x 24 inches

Wrapped Silver Goblet: FINAL

 

Wrapped Silver Goblet

11 x 14 inches

oil on panel
(see previous blog posts about this painting)

This painting will be showing at the Open Studios Exhibition at the SomArts gallery here in San Francisco October 3- 29. Come see the exhibit at one of these two events:

Private Preview Gala, Saturday, October 3, 2009 (ticketed event)
Exhibition Opening Reception, Sunday, October 4, 2009 (free event)

More info at ArtSpan.org

See a higher quality version here

I'll be teaching two workshops on still life painting in summer 2010, one here in the San Francisco Bay Area and one in Florida. Details to follow soon!